Nile Gardiner is a Washington-based foreign affairs analyst and political commentator. A former aide to Margaret Thatcher, Gardiner has served as a foreign policy adviser to two US presidential campaigns. He appears frequently on American and British television, including Fox News Channel, BBC, and Fox Business Network.

The State Department’s Falklands press briefing was a diplomatic disaster for the US

I wrote a piece yesterday on the Obama administration’s appalling response to the Falkland Islands referendum, which emphatically demonstrated that more than 99 percent of the Islands’ inhabitants wish to remain as a British Overseas Territory. The State Department has since released a video and transcript of the press briefing given by spokeswoman Victoria Nuland. The video is worth watching in full, as the Associated Press’s State Department correspondent Matthew Lee and another journalist question Nuland as to why the Obama administration will not recognise the Falkland Islanders’ right to self-determination, and why Washington refuses to stand with Great Britain, America’s closest friend and ally.

It is a cringeworthy performance by the senior State Department official, who defends a shameful policy that is a huge slap in the face for Britain and the people of the Falkland Islands. Nuland, who speaks on behalf of Secretary of State John Kerry, treats Great Britain and Argentina as equals with “competing claims” to the Falklands, and urges a “resolution” between London and Buenos Aires, i.e. direct negotiations over the sovereignty of the Falklands – which is also Argentina’s position.

Britain has in fact held sovereignty over the Islands since 1765, and has had a permanent settlement since 1833. Many of the Falklands’ British inhabitants have lived there for generations. Nuland, whose knowledge of Falklands history appears to be non-existent, flat out refuses to acknowledge that the Falkland Islanders have a right to self-determination, which amounts to a blatant policy of appeasement of the Kirchner regime in Buenos Aires. She completely ignores the fact that Argentina’s government has resorted to threats and intimidation against the Falkland Islanders, with foreign minister Hector Timerman even declaring that the Falkland Islanders “do not exist”.

Here is the full transcript of Nuland’s remarks, which are nothing less than an embarrassment for the United States, a nation founded upon the principles of liberty and self-determination, the very ideals the Falkand Islanders hold dear:

QUESTION: You don’t have anything to start off about the awesome referendum in the Falkland Islands?MS. NULAND: I was hoping you would ask, Matt. Was there a question in there?

QUESTION: Yeah. What do you think about the results of this? Do you think that the three people who voted against should get their way and that you should – you’ll start encouraging the Brits to hand over the islands to the Argentines, or what do you think?MS. NULAND: Well, we take note of the results of the recent democratic referendum in the islands, where the residents voted to retain the islands’ current political status as a British overseas territory. The residents have clearly expressed their preference for a continued relationship with the United Kingdom. That said, we obviously recognize that there are competing claims. Our formal position has not changed. We recognize the de facto U.K. Administration of the islands, but we take no position on sovereignty claims.

QUESTION: So you don’t think that this referendum enhances the – or augments the British claim?MS. NULAND: What we have said is that the residents have clearly expressed themselves and expressed their will, but we also acknowledge the competing claims.

QUESTION: Well, I’m sure, but you do agree with the principle of self determination? You do agree with that, correct?MS. NULAND: Let me say it one more time, that the residents have expressed their clear preference. We acknowledge that there are conflicting claims, and we recognize the U.K. de facto administration.

QUESTION: Can you explain to me why it is that on this issue you refuse to give the Brits any leeway? I mean, they are your closest ally, arguably. And you’re just – you’ve just refused to – all they’re asking for – they’re not asking for much here. They’re just asking you to recognize the vote. And if you do agree with the principle of self determination, I don’t understand why it wouldn’t – this wouldn’t affect your policy.MS. NULAND: And as I said, we’ve been very clear about what we see in this referendum and the will that’s been expressed by the people of the island, but that doesn’t change the fact that there are competing claims. Our own legal position has not changed.

QUESTION: So are you going to now take a look at your position and perhaps review it going further down the line?MS. NULAND: Again, I think I just stated where we are. I don’t have anything further to announce.

QUESTION: So no change in the U.S. position?MS. NULAND: As I said, conflicting claims, but we recognize the de facto U.K. Administration of the islands. We don’t take any position on sovereignty claims. We do think it’s important for the parties to continue to have – to be constructive in their approach and focus their own efforts on a resolution.

QUESTION: So would you consider this referendum a failure then? Because part of the reason for holding it was to demonstrate to the world that the people who live in the Falkland Islands want to remain British and to validate that position before international bodies and other governments. If the United States, which, as Matt said, is the closest ally of Britain, is not going to change its longstanding neutrality on this position, then by definition the referendum has failed to convince you of that.

MS. NULAND: Well, as I said, we have been very straight up here about acknowledging what happened in this referendum, which is that the residents have expressed their preference. But with regard to our legal position, it is as I stated.